Gaucho Steakhouse

Many Brazilian restaurants are very similar in style with the major differences coming in the meats that are served.  They look very nice and, for a single price, you have access to a great salad bar and many grilled meats that are served on skewers by servers in Gaucho outfits.  In general it is an exercise in gluttony and while there is a discount for those that are simply eating at the salad bar, I don't know that it is really worth the price.  We recently went to Gaucho Steakhouse in Northville, Michigan, which is near Detroit.  Like the Brazilian Steakhouses in Chicago, it is a large space in it's own building.  The entrance is large with a curved and glass backed waterfall to one side.  The lights are hanging and the inner walls have bullfighting murals.  The bar is large and sits near the entrance and the salad bar which has just about everything you might want is located in the center of the restaurant.  There is a semi-private dining room in the back for large parties where we had been seated in the past, but we were seated in the main dining room near the front of the restaurant this time. 

 

At everyone's place setting there was a two sided coaster, red on one side and green on the other.  As it might be expected, red means stop and green means go.  When we were seated, the coasters started in the red position.  This allowed people to go to the salad bar which is pretty impressive.  In addition to some very fresh vegetables, it also included Blue, Swiss, Cheddar, Mozzarella, and Parmesan Cheese, Ham, Salami, Tortellini and Risotto.  There was also Soup, Crab Salad, Lobster.  These were all very good, but the point of going to a Brazilian Steakhouse is to have the grilled meat and salad wastes stomach space. 

When a diner was ready, they flip the coaster to the green side and the gauchos begin arriving.  There were thirteen meats on the menu.  Most of it was beef, but there was also pork, lamb, chicken and shrimp.  I started out with Chicken and Lamb which were juicy and very flavorful.  I then went on to the pork shrimp and many cuts of beef.  While I did try most of the meats, I did miss the Linguica Sausage, the Lamb chops, and the Ribeye.  It was all very good but because it was essentially a moving buffet and it was tough to photograph everything.

I finished the meat part of the meal with the Top Sirloin.  This is their signature meat and well worth trying.  It was tender and juicy with a nice garlic flavor and it was a great way to finish the savory portion of the meal.

After the salad and the meat, we were pretty full, but many of us had saved enough for dessert.  They had a pretty extensive dessert list.  I went with a classic dessert that I thought went well with the meat, an Apple Cobbler with Ice Cream.  The Apples were baked in a Caramel Sauce with a Sugar Dough and were served with Crushed Pecans and the Ice Cream and it was a great finish to a great meal.